Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

UNLV to face Arizona at home after deal falls apart to move football game

Rebels will play 7 home games in 2013 season at Sam Boyd Stadium

Jim Livengood Retires

Sam Morris

UNLV Athletic Director Jim Livengood details the circumstances surrounding his retirement Wednesday, May 8, 2013.

After looking into moving the game to Glendale, Ariz., the Rebels football team will open its home slate on Sept. 7 against Arizona in Las Vegas as originally scheduled, UNLV Athletic Director Jim Livengood announced in a statement Friday.

“We were approached by a promoter to move our September 7 home football game against Arizona to Glendale’s University of Phoenix Stadium but we’ve decided to keep the game in Las Vegas,” Livengood said in a statement.

“We went through the process with the University of Arizona, Russ Potts Productions and Global Spectrum (which manages the stadium) and everyone was great in trying to make this thing work. We just couldn’t get the numbers to match up and in the end everyone agreed it would be best to keep the game here,” Livengood said.

In an earlier meeting with reporters to announce his departure from UNLV athletics effective June 30, Livengood said moving the game would bring a payday “way north” of $750,000 to the Rebels. At the time, he also said the contract was being finalized by lawyers and an announcement about moving the game would be imminent.

The decision to keep the game in Las Vegas could benefit Livengood’s interim replacement, Tina Kunzer-Murphy, who has been charged with improving football ticket sales. The Pac-12 opponent is the biggest name on UNLV’s seven-game home schedule.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy